French Encroachments--Mission of Washington--Virginia
resists the French--First Engagement--Death of Jumonville--
Lieutenant-Colonel Washington retreats--Surrenders at Fort
Necessity.
AT the age of nineteen, in 1751, Washington was appointed one of the
adjutants-general of Virginia, with the rank of major. In the autumn of
that year he accompanied his brother Lawrence, then in declining health,
to Barbadoes, in the West Indies, who returned to Virginia, and after
lingering for awhile died at Mount Vernon, aged thirty-four.
In the same year also died the Rev. William Dawson, Commissary and
President of William and Mary College. Davies expresses veneration for
his memory.
After the arrival of Governor Dinwiddie, the colony was divided into
four military districts, and the northern one was allotted to Major
Washington. France was now undertaking to stretch a chain of posts from
Canada to Louisiana, in order to secure a control over the boundless and
magnificent regions west of the Alleghanies, which she claimed by a
vague title of La Salle's discovery. The French deposited, (1749,) under
ground, at the mouth of the Kenhawa and other places, leaden plates, on
which was inscribed the claim of Louis the Fifteenth to the whole
country watered by the Ohio and its tributaries. England claimed the
same territory upon a ground equally slender--the cession made by the
Iroquois at the treaty of Lancaster. A more tenable ground was, that
from the first discovery of Virginia, England had claimed the territory
to the north and northwest from ocean to ocean, and that the region in
question was the contiguous back country of her settlements. The title
of the native tribes actually inhabiting the country commanded no
consideration from the contending powers. The French troops had now
commenced establishing posts in the territory on the Ohio claimed by
Virginia. Dinwiddie having communicated information of these
encroachments to his government, had been instructed to repel force by
force if necessary, after he had remonstrated with them; he had also
received a supply of cannon and warlike stores. A treaty with the Ohio
tribes was held September, 1753, at Winchester, when, in exchange for
presents of arms and ammunition, they promised their aid, and consented
that a fortlet should be erected by the governor of Virginia on the
Monongahela.
Dinwiddie, deeming it necessary to remonstrate against the French
encroachments, found in Major Washington a trusty messenger, who
cheerfully undertook the hazardous mission. Starting from Williamsburg
on the last day of October, he reached Fredericksburg on the next day,
and there engaged as French interpreter Jacob Van Braam, who had served
in the Carthagena expedition under Lawrence Washington. At Alexandria
they provided necessaries, and at Winchester baggage and horses, and
reached Will's Creek, now Cumberland River, on the fourteenth of
November. Thence, accompanied by Van Braam, Gist, and four other
attendants, he traversed a savage wilderness, over rugged mountains
covered with snow, and across rapid swollen rivers. He reconnoitred the
face of the country with a sagacious eye, and selected the confluence of
the Alleghany and Monongahela Rivers, where they form the beautiful
Ohio, as an eligible site for a fort. Fort Du Quesne was afterwards
erected there by the French. After conferring, through an Indian
interpreter, with Tanacharisson, called the half-king, (as his authority
was somewhat subordinate to that of the Iroquois,) Washington provided
himself with Indian guides, and, accompanied by the half-king and some
other chiefs, set out for the French post. Ascending the Alleghany River
by way of Venango, he at length delivered Dinwiddie's letter to the
French commander, Monsieur Le Gardeur de St. Pierre, a courteous Knight
of the Order of St. Louis. Detained there some days, young Washington
examined the fort, and prepared a plan and description of it. It was
situated on a branch of French Creek, about fifteen miles south of Lake
Erie, and about seven hundred and fifty from Williamsburg. When he
departed with a sealed reply, a canoe was hospitably stocked with
liquors and provisions, but the French gave him no little anxiety by
their intrigues to win the half-king over to their interests, and to
retain him at the fort. Getting away at last with much difficulty, after
a perilous voyage of six days they reached Venango, where they met their
horses. They growing weak, and being given up for packs, Washington put
on an Indian dress and proceeded with the party for three days, when,
committing the conduct of them to Van Braam, he determined to return in
advance. With an Indian match-coat tied around, taking his papers with
him, and a pack on his back and a gun in his hand, he proceeded on foot,
accompanied by Gist. At a place of ill-omened name, Murderingtown, on
the southeast fork of Beaver Creek, they met with a band of French
Indians lying in wait for them, and one of them, being employed as a
guide, fired at either Gist or the major, at the distance of fifteen
steps, but missed. Gist would have killed the Indian at once, but he was
prevented by the prudence of Washington. They, however, captured and
detained him till nine o'clock at night, when releasing him, they
pursued their course during the whole night. Upon reaching the Alleghany
River they employed a whole day in making a raft with the aid only of a
hatchet. Just as the sun was sinking behind the mountains they launched
the raft and undertook to cross: the river was covered with ice, driving
down the impetuous stream, by which, before they were half way over,
they were blocked up and near being sunk. Washington, putting out his
setting-pole to stop the raft, was thrown by the revulsion into the
water, but recovered himself by catching hold of one of the logs. He and
his companion, forced to abandon it, betook themselves to an island near
at hand, where they passed the night, December the twenty-ninth, in wet
clothes and without fire: Gist's hands and feet were frozen. In the
morning they were able to cross on the ice, and they passed two or three
days at a trading-post near the spot where the battle of the Monongahela
was afterwards fought. Here they heard of the recent massacre of a white
family on the banks of the Great Kenhawa. Washington visited Queen
Aliquippa at the mouth of the Youghiogeny. At Gist's house, on the
Monongahela, he purchased a horse, and, separating from this faithful
companion, proceeded to Belvoir, where he rested one day, and arrived
at Williamsburg on the 16th day of January, 1754, after an absence of
eleven weeks, and a journey of fifteen hundred miles, one-half of it
being through an untrodden wilderness. A journal which he kept was
published in the colonial newspapers and in England. For this hazardous
and painful journey he received no compensation save the bare amount of
his expenses.
The governor and council resolved to raise two companies, of one hundred
men each, the one to be enlisted by him at Alexandria, and the other by
Captain Trent on the frontier, the command of both being given to
Washington. He received orders to march as soon as practicable to the
fork of the Ohio, and complete a fort, supposed to have been already
commenced there by the Ohio Company. The assembly which met December,
1753, refused Dinwiddie supplies for resisting the French encroachments,
"because they thought their privileges in danger," and they did not
apprehend much danger from the French. The governor called the assembly
together again in January, 1754, when at length, after much persuasion,
they appropriated ten thousand pounds of the colonial currency for
protecting the frontier against the hostile attempts of the French. The
bill, however, was clogged with provisoes against the encroachments of
prerogative. Dinwiddie increased the military force to a regiment of
three hundred men, and the command was given to Colonel Joshua Fry, and
Major Washington was made lieutenant-colonel. Cannon and other military
equipments were sent to Alexandria. The English minister, the Earl of
Holdernesse, also ordered the governor of New York to furnish two
independent companies, and the governor of South Carolina one, to
co-operate in this enterprise.
Early in April, 1754, Washington, with two companies, proceeded to the
Great Meadows. At Will's Creek, on the twenty-fifth, he learned that an
ensign, in command of Trent's company, had surrendered, on the
seventeenth, the unfinished fort at the fork of the Ohio, (now
Pittsburg,) to a large French force, which had come down under
Contrecoeur from Venango, with many pieces of cannon, batteaux, canoes,
and a large body of men. This was regarded as the first open act of
hostility between France and England in North America. In the war which
ensued Great Britain indeed triumphed gloriously, yet that triumph
served only to bring on in its train the revolt of the colonies and the
dismemberment of the empire.
Washington, upon hearing of the surrender of the fort, marched slowly
for the mouth of Red Stone Creek, preparing the roads for the passage of
cannon which were to follow. Governor Dinwiddie, about the same time,
repaired to Winchester for the purpose of holding a treaty with the
Indians, which, however, failed, only two or three chiefs of inferior
note attending.
Virginia refused to send delegates to the Albany Convention; and the
assembly and governor united in disapproving of Franklin's Plan of
Union, adopted on that occasion. Dinwiddie during the previous year had
proposed to Lord Halifax a plan of colonial government, dividing the
colonies into two districts, northern and southern, in each of which
there should be a congress, or general council, for the regulation of
their respective interests.
The money appropriated by the assembly for the support of the troops was
expended under the care of a committee of the assembly, associated with
the governor, and the niggardly economy of this committee gave great
disgust to Washington and the officers under him. He declared that he
would prefer serving as a volunteer to "slaving dangerously for the
shadow of pay through woods, rocks, mountains." Expecting a collision
with the enemy, he wrote to Governor Dinwiddie, "We have prepared
a charming field for an encounter." Ascertaining that a French
reconnoitering detachment was near his camp, and believing their
intentions hostile, he determined to anticipate them. Guided by friendly
Indians, in a dark and rainy night he approached the French encampment,
and early on the twenty-eighth of May, with forty of his own men and a
few Indians, surrounded the French. A skirmish ensued; M. De Jumonville,
the officer in command, and ten of his party were killed, and twenty-two
made prisoners. Several of them appeared to have a mixture of Indian
blood in them. The death of Jumonville created no little indignation in
France, and became the subject of a French poem. It is said that
Washington, in referring to this affair, remarked that "he knew of no
music so pleasing as the whistling of bullets." This being mentioned in
the presence of George the Second, he observed, "He would not say so if
he had been used to hear many." The king had himself fought at the
battle of Dettingen. Inquiry being many years afterwards made of
Washington as to the expression, he replied, "If I said so, it was when
I was young." Charles the Twelfth, of Sweden, expressed delight when he
first heard the whistling of bullets. Of Washington's men one was killed
and two or three were wounded. While the regiment was on its march to
join the detachment in advance, the command devolved, at the end of May,
on Lieutenant-Colonel Washington by the death of Colonel Fry. This
officer, a native of England, was educated at Oxford. Coming over to
Virginia, he appears to have resided for a time in the County of Essex.
He was some time professor of mathematics in the College of William and
Mary, and afterwards a member of the house of burgesses, and engaged in
running a boundary line between Virginia and North Carolina to the
westward. In concert with Peter Jefferson, father of Thomas, he made
a map of Virginia, and he was, as has been mentioned before, a
commissioner at the treaty of Logstown, in June, 1752. He died
universally lamented.
Washington, in a letter addressed to Governor Dinwiddie about this time,
said: "For my own part, I can answer that I have a constitution hardy
enough to encounter and undergo the most severe trials, and I flatter
myself, resolution to face what any man dares, as shall be proved when
it comes to the test, which I believe we are upon the borders of." The
provisions of the detachment being nearly exhausted, and the ground
occupied disadvantageous, and the French at the fork of the Ohio, now
called Fort Du Quesne, having been reinforced, and being about to march
against the English, a council of war, held June the twenty-eighth, at
Gist's house, thirteen miles beyond the Great Meadows, advised a
retreat, and Colonel Washington fell back to the post at the Great
Meadows, now styled Fort Necessity, which he reached on the first of
July. His force, amounting, with the addition of an independent company
of South Carolinians, to about four hundred men, were at once set to
work to raise a breast-work and to strengthen the fortification as far
as possible. Forty or fifty Indian families took shelter in the fort,
and among them Tanacharisson, or the half-king, and Queen Aliquippa.
They proved to be of more trouble than advantage, being as spies and
scouts of some service when rewarded, but in the fort useless. Before
the completion of the ditch, M. De Villiers, a brother of De Jumonville,
appeared on the 3d of July, 1754, in front of the fort with nine hundred
men, and at eleven o'clock A.M., commenced an attack by firing at the
distance of six hundred yards, but without effect. The assailants
fought, under cover of the trees and high grass, on rising ground near
the fort. They were received with intrepidity by the Americans. Some of
the Indians climbed up trees overlooking the fort, and fired on
Washington's men, who returned the compliment in such style that the red
men slipped down the trees with the celerity of monkeys, which excited a
loud laugh among the Virginians.
The rain fell heavily during the day; the trenches were filled with
water; and many of the arms of Washington's men were out of order. The
desultory engagement lasted till eight o'clock in the evening, when the
French commander, having twice sounded a parley, and the stock of
provisions and ammunition in the fort being much reduced, it was
accepted. About midnight, during a heavy rain, one half of the garrison
being drunk, a capitulation took place, after the articles had been
modified in some points at Washington's instance. The French at first
demanded a surrender of the cannon; but this being resisted it was
agreed that they should be destroyed, except one small piece reserved by
the garrison upon the point of honor; but which they were eventually
unable to remove.
These guns, probably only spiked and abandoned, were subsequently
restored, and lay for a long time on the Great Meadows. After the
Revolution it was an amusement of settlers moving westward, to discharge
them. They were at last removed to Kentucky.
The troops were to retain their other arms and baggage; to march out
with drums beating and colors flying, and return home unmolested. The
terms of the surrender, as published at the time from the duplicate copy
retained by Colonel Washington, implied ("by the too great condescension
of Van Braam," the interpreter) an acknowledgment on his part that M. de
Jumonville had been "assassinated." It appears that Washington was
misled by the inaccuracy of Van Braam in translating the word, he being
a Dutchman, and the only officer in the garrison who was acquainted with
the French language. It was so stormy at the time that he could not give
a written translation of the articles, and they could scarcely keep a
candle lighted to read them by, so that it became necessary to rely upon
the interpreter's word. The American officers present afterwards averred
that the word "assassination" was not mentioned, and that the terms
employed were, "the death of Jumonville." The affair is involved in
obscurity: for why should the French require Washington to acknowledge
himself the author of "his death," unless the killing was unjustifiable?
On the other hand, with what consistency could Villiers allow such
honorable terms in the same articles in which it was demanded of
Washington that he should sign a confession of his own disgrace?
Of the Virginia regiment, three hundred and five in number, twelve were
killed, and forty-three wounded. The loss sustained by Captain Mackay's
Independent Company was not ascertained. Villiers' loss was three
killed, and seventeen dangerously wounded. The horses and cattle having
been captured or killed by the enemy, it was found necessary to abandon
a large part of the baggage and stores, and to convey the remainder,
with the wounded, on the backs of the soldiers. Washington had agreed to
restore the prisoners taken at the skirmish with Jumonville; and to
insure this, two captains, Van Braam and Stobo, were given up as
hostages.
Washington, early on the 4th of July, 1754, perhaps the most humiliating
of his life, marched out according to the terms; but in the confusion
the Virginia standard, which was very large, was left behind, and was
carried off in triumph by the enemy. But the regimental colors were
preserved. In a short time the Virginians met a body of Indians who
plundered the baggage, and were with difficulty restrained from
attacking the men. Washington hastened back to Will's Creek, whence he
proceeded to Williamsburg. The assembly voted him and his officers
thanks, and gave him three hundred pistoles to be distributed among his
men; but dissatisfaction was expressed at some of the articles of
capitulation when they came to be made public.[468:A] Among the
prisoners taken at the time when Jumonville was killed, was La Force,
who, on account of his influence among the Indians, was looked upon as a
dangerous character, and was imprisoned at Williamsburg. He managed to
escape from prison in the summer of 1756, but was recaptured near West
Point; and he was now kept in irons. This severe usage, and his being
detained by Dinwiddie a prisoner, in violation of the treaty of Fort
Necessity, cannot be justified, and was unjust to Stobo and Van Braam,
who were, consequently, long retained as prisoners of war, and for some
time confined in prison at Quebec. It is true that the French suffered
the Indians to violate the article of the treaty securing the troops
from molestation; but an excuse might be found in the difficulty of
restraining savages.
Much blame was laid on poor Van Braam at the time, and in the thanks
voted by the assembly his name was excepted, as having acted
treacherously in interpreting the treaty. Washington, who had shortly
before the surrender pronounced him "an experienced, good officer, and
very worthy of the command he has enjoyed," appears to have been at a
loss whether to attribute his misinterpretation to "evil intentions or
negligence," but was rather disposed to believe that it was owing to his
being but little acquainted with the English language. Van Braam appears
to have been rather hardly judged in this affair.[468:B] Stobo, a native
of Scotland, who emigrated early to Virginia, was brave, energetic, and
a man of genius, but eccentric; his fidelity was never doubted. He was
an acquaintance of David Hume, and a friend of Smollett, and was, it is
said, the original of the character of Lismahago.
FOOTNOTES:
[468:A] Washington's Writings, ii. 456.
[468:B] Ibid., ii. 365, 456; Va. Hist. Register, v. 194; Hist. of
Expedition against Fort Du Quesne, edited by Winthrop Sargent, Esq., and
published by the Pennsylvania Hist. Society, 51.